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Oil: Zebco fishing reel oil on the valves (on the linkages bearings and the spindles only) Don't put oil down the leadpipe unless you want to gum everything up.

Grease: Zebco fishing reel grease.

Both are available in the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart (aka Mega-Lo-Mart) for about $2 each.

I've been using either Zaja Scented Juice or Regular ole Blue Juice, both work great in my opinion. As for slide grease, I have never had a problem with generic veggie oil.

I get the cheap stuff $5.00 for 16 fl. oz. Then use a LOT of it. I put it in a spray bottle, then spray into the slides and lead pipe. The horn loves (it told me so). No green stuff inside, no flora or fauna ... ever. Just clean brass.

I'll second the Hetman oil. I asked everybody I could last summer when I bought my tuba and all said Hetman. Grease, I usually use whatever was cheapest, but the tuba is in the shop getting a chem clean right now so I want to start using some good stuff too, if it will make a difference.

I use this:

http://www.binak.com/

Works great for me!

Definitely Binak. I oil up once every 6 weeks or so. Works GREAT - just don't mix it with any other oil.

Hetman's Valve Oil./ Blue Juice

For slides I use a mix of the Green bottle of Spacefiller, some of that red Selmer junk, and a couple drops of valve oil.

I too opt for the ch***, I mean inexpensive solution.

I use a mixture of unscented lamp oil and 3-in-1 on my pistons, but there might be something better for rotary valves.

For slides, I have been using Radio Shack's Silicone lubricant for four years and have yet to use up the tube. Does not seem to interact with the valve oil.

I play piston valved instruments. I have used plain old Vaseline or generic equivalent for @35 years. But if I ever got a rotary instrument, I would look at something else as I would not be pleased at the prospect of the Vaseline working its way into the rotor casings and slowing things down. I'd probably lean towards several items in the Hetman's lineup, including a linkage grease. Ideally, I'd have two different slide greases, one for the #1 slide and T slide that get moved a lot, a heavier one for the rest of the slides, a valve oil that had no residue, and a separate linkage grease. Don't forget to put the slightest bit of proper lubrication on the spatula rod and springs as well so they don't stick.

Hmm. I just remembered another reason I have my Besson tuba: ease of maintenance of the valves. Just dump oil on them and go!

rotaries don't need a lot of oil, and Al Cass works great. Hetman's great stuff but i think it's only efficient on pistons. the different grades work great if you have horns at different stages of wear and tear (like i do).

I stopped using slide grease years ago. I figured i was moving my 1st valve slide so much on my 186 that i might as well treat it like a trombone slide, so it gets treated regularly with superslick, including a nice cleaning. Since i keep the stuff in my gig bag, i use it for the other slides too. it means i have to do it more often, but there's a lot of downtime in lots of orchestra rehearsals...

one caution - i started using a certain synthetic oil on the pistons of my F once, and the valves developed this awful white, sticky crap on 'em. My repair guy said that some folks have saliva that causes a chemical reaction to the stuff. After getting the horn flushed, i went back to "Al" and haven't had any trouble since.

very frankly, with a properly maintained horn (not to dirty, properly aligned parts) it shouldn't really matter which valve oil you use as long as you use one. If you have to pump oil into an instrument to get the valves to work right, chances are, there's a problem with the horn.

any piston horn should be able to use standard generic valve oil.

knuxie wrote:Anhydrous lanolin for slide grease.

I just finished reading "The Perfect Machine" by Ronald Florence -- a book about the construction of the 200" Hale telescope on Mt. Palomar. It's a good book if you're into that kind of thing.

To remove all finger oil from the glass prior to coating it with aluminum it was coated with Wildroot Cream-Oil, then "oxygen flashed" to burn off the oil. The author claims Wildroot had a special ingredient that made it work.

You'd better get Wildroot Cream Oil, Charlie
It keeps your hair in trim,
Because it's non-alcoholic, Charlie;
It's made with soothing lanolin.